Present time*
After the initial succes of defeating the Yuuzhan Vong at the Battle of Penthir, the victors thought they had succesfully defended the galaxy. However, the horde of Yuuzhan Vong that took Penthir was merely a scouting party, sent to test the galaxy's defenses and behaviour. On the long-range scanners the truth appeared clearly. The rest of the Yuuzhan Vong was on their way.
"We shall debrief on our ship." Ben said to Rey. "Allright, we'll be there."
On their way to the Star Destroyer, Vader told Ben about his efforts to find more allies. "You should know that when you were busy negotiating a treaty with the Resistance, I have tried to gain some.. assets." Vader said. "What assets?" Ben asked. "We are not the only ones in this galaxy. This war is upon us all. They were a feared faction once, a race full of warriors. The Clone Wars and Civil War buried its might." Vader said. "Mandalore." said Ben. "Yes. I have spoken to their leader, Boba Fett. He is reluctant, but they could be useful in the war." Vader said. "Boba Fett, I know that name. Wasn't he that legendary bounty hunter that died?" Ben asked. "He was known like that, and he was resourceful too because he did not die." Vader said. "Hmm. We'll see what they will do when the Vong invade." Ben said. "Anything else?" asked Ben. "A Sith warrior." Vader said. "A former apprentice of Palpatine. He was rotting away on a desolate planet. He found purpose again in the Vong invasion and will be our ally. He is strong in the Dark Side of the force." "Good. We can certainly use that." Ben said. "What is his name?" Ben asked. "Darth Maul."
A short while later, Rey, Chewie, Poe, Finn, Lando and Senator Polos entered the Star Destroyer of Emperor Skywalker. "My city, my people... so many dead." Senator Polos cried. "This cannot continue! We must protect other planets fromthese monsters! Forgive me everyone. I must also be thankfull. Without the Empire, we would not have had victory." Polos said. "Yes...our first victory.. I had hoped it would be the last as well." Ben said. "We defeated them at least." said Poe. "It will take a long time before we defeat them all." Lando responded. "With their numbers, I doubt we even can." he added.
"We've got to try." Rey said, raising hope. "We have beaten them now and we can do so again. As long as we work together and trust in the force." she added. Ben looked at her. He smiled. Always so brave and optimistic, alsmost naive, he thought. But he liked that about her. "We need to prepare for their main force. We have no idea where they will invade. We must act quickly before they do. Deny them a foothold." Ben said. "If we don't know where they will invade, how are we supposed to defend that way?" Finn asked. "Admiral?" Ben let Admiral Pryde present their plan. "We can scatter our forces to most systems in the Unknown Regions. That way, we will know when and where they will invade. The fleet closest to the imvasion points will engage them and signal the rest of our forces. Then, the systems that have been left untouched by the Vong can reinforce the systems that are." Admiral Pryde said. "One detail in this is their ability to adapt. We have seen it with Penthir. As soon as our Axial canons displayed their power, they reacted to it and nearly destroyed all superlasers. For this reason, no fleet will consist of only Imperial or Resistance ships. The fleets should be mixed, so that they cannot learn the strenghts and weaknesses of either faction or a particular fleet." Admiral Pryde presented.
"Well I guess we have to. We know the Vong don't fool around. Mixed fleets is not a bad idea." Lando said. "Very interesting to see the Imperial ships next to Resistance ships in one fleet." said Finn. "Yeah, about that... we are an alliance, are we not?" Rey asked in general. "We should send the galaxy a clear message that we are not fighting eachother anymore, that we are fighting together. I think we will get more support from around the galaxy." Rey said. "Agreed. We are an alliance. Politics will continue after this invasion, if we survived it." Ben said. "We are, for as long as it takes to defend against the invaders, The Galactic Alliance." he added, followed by handshakes and cheers from both sides.
2 days later, the Yuuzhan Vong invaded with full force. They attacked multiple systems at once, occupying most Galactic Alliance forces. Planets burned and trillions of beings died because of the invasion. The Mandalorians, led by Mandalore Boba Fett, joined the war effort. Now that they had experienced the Vong invasion, there was no doubt that Vader was lying when he came to them before. The Galactic Alliance was strengthened by the jet-pack warriors and the Mandalorian fleet.
Ben and Rey grew closer and closer to eachother. They were the most important Alliance leaders, so they were around eachother often. A sith Emperor and the last Jedi. Who would have thought? They were planning, thinking of strategies and leading their forces. Sometimes Rey and Ben would set foot on a battlefield themselves, mostly on operations where a powerfull Vong commander or leader had to be eliminated. Though these Vong leaders were excellent warriors, they were ultimately no match for a Jedi and a Sith fighting together, as they completed eachother.
At first, they were hiding their feelings for the public. But after a while they found that showing their love only empowered the Alliance. The war between the Resistance and former First Order seemed almost forgotten.